No. 18 Arizona 70, Oregon State 59: Wildcats take care of the ball, and on Saturday they can win a championship

AP photoArizona made sure there would be no "Kiss the Sky'' repeat Thursday, although Jared Cunningham did have a highlight-reel over-the-head slam in the last minute of the Beavers' 70-59 loss. In this sequence, Cunningham is trying to barge through the defense of the 'Cats Kyle Fogg

TUCSON, Ariz. – With 4:23 left in Thursday’s game and Oregon State trailing No. 18 Arizona 62-53, the Beavers’ gentle Aussie center, Angus Brandt, was slapped with a technical foul.

It was no profanity-laced explosion. Brandt simply took umbrage when the Wildcats’ Derrick Williams threw the ball at him, so he threw it back.

“You don’t want to look like you’re getting walked all over out there,’’ said Brandt after OSU had lost 70-59 in front of 14,588 fans at McKale Center.

The Beavers (10-18, 5-12 Pacific 10 Conference) didn’t get trampled by the first-place Wildcats (24-6, 13-4) and they competed like their scholarships were on the line in one of the most hostile venues in college basketball.

But they also committed a season-high 22 turnovers (Arizona only had eight) and they got pounded on the backboards – a reversal from the two teams’ Jan. 2 meeting at Gill that ended with OSU celebrating a 76-75 victory.

“Except for a couple plays here and there, it was a good showing,’’ said OSU coach Craig Robinson.

“We had a good gameplan, and the guys didn’t rattled that much. It just wasn’t enough.’’

Arizona is not only playing for a Pac-10 championship and a favorable NCAA tournament seeding, but the Wildcats were also playing with a little vengeance in mind Thursday.

They had lost three straight games to the Beavers.

“Oregon State,’’ said Miller, “is a hard team to beat.’’

This time, the ‘Cats took care of the ball, took care of business on the boards, and they made sure Beavers’ sophomore guard Jared Cunningham would have a quiet night (he took six shots and had just seven points).

Cunningham’s “Kiss the Sky’’ tip-jam in the Jan. 2 game made ESPN’s plays of the day and he might have crashed the show again even though the rest of his game was nondescript at best.

With a minute to play, Cunningham somehow corraled a tipped Calvin Haynes lob pass and flushed a reverse, over-the-head dunk that grew oohs and aahs.

The Beavers turned the ball over four times on their first five possessions and trailed 34-23 at halftime.

Arizona scored 15 points off 14 OSU turnovers in the first half and the Wildcats only had two turnovers themselves.

It was a flashing red light for OSU.

“They did a great job of taking care of the ball,’’ said Robinson, “and we didn’t.’’

For the second straight game, the Beavers got into some pushing matches.

OSU freshman forward Devon Collier – who had 12 points and 8 rebounds – exchanged shoves with Williams with 5:43 left and each received a technical.

“There weren’t any hard feelings, I was just frustrated,’’ said Collier, who battled the 'Cats inside all night.

Arizona’s Jamelle Horne said the frustration was mostly on OSU’s part.

“They were doing a lot of ticky-tack stuff,’’ said Horne. … “while they were boxing out they were throwing a lot of cheap shots, which a lot of teams do and usually the refs don’t catch that, but luckily they did tonight.’’

The Beavers probably had a different story, but the 'Cats were entitled to get in the final word.

Arizona will play for an outright Pac-10 championship Saturday when it faces slumping Oregon.

“We just have to make sure we don’t make the game bigger than it is,’’ said Miller.

The Beavers? If they play with the same intensity Saturday they have a good chance of taking care of last-place Arizona State, but nothing’s for certain because the Sun Devils smacked down the Ducks 73-53 Thursday.

A year ago, the Beavers snapped a 27-game losing streak in Tucson with a 63-55 victory, their first at McKale since Jan. 29, 1983.

It was a historic win, but as Omari Johnson (nine points, eight rebounds, one of his better games) noted, "that's history. ... Arizona's a better team this year.''

A lot better.

Still, OSU players enjoy McKale – Collier called his first game at McKale a great experience – and so does the OSU coach.

“Who wouldn’t?’’ he said. “I didn’t get to play here when I was in college but I always love playing against the really good program at arenas like this because you can see where you stand.’’

Brandt, who played one of his better offensive games of the season (nine points), said players like Collier and freshman point guard Ahmad Starks grow up quicker when they’re thrown to the wolves at McKale, as they were Thursday.

“This is one of the loudest places in the Pac-10, and they’re only to get better from the experience,’’ said Brandt.